Category: Food

There are numerous reasons why people opt to become vegetarian. Some people become vegetarians to avoid animal foods for health reasons while there are people who do it because of their religion, love for animals and environmental issues.

If you are aiming to become a vegetarian, there are a lot of factors that you need to know first.

Types of Vegetarian Diet

There are several types of vegetarian diet you need to know that may help you decide which diet you will follow.

Vegetarian Diet

Following a vegetarian diet means you don’t eat animal foods such as meats, poultry, or fish. The eaters in this category are divided further depending on what animal products they include in their diet.

Lacto-ovo

Includes eaters that consume both dairy products and eggs. It is the most common vegetarian diet.

Lacto-vegetarian

People who eat dairy products but avoid eggs.

Ovo-vegetarian

The opposite of lacto-vegetarian, they eat eggs but avoid dairy products.

Vegan

A vegetarian that doesn’t eat eggs, dairy products, or any other foods that come from animals. Vegans are eaters who don’t consume animal foods at all.

Benefits of being a vegetarian

Cost saving is one of the factors of switching to a vegetarian diet for some, as you may cut your budget spent on meats and dairy products which are more expensive than vegetables. In addition, producing vegetarian foods is more ecological and sustainable as it is environment-friendly.

But often, the most important benefit you can gain from being a vegetarian is for your health.

Promotes weight loss

A potential benefit of being a vegetarian is weight loss, as you consume fewer calories. A healthy vegetarian diet is composed of complex carbohydrates that help to regulate bowel movement and control cholesterol.

These good carbohydrates can be found in fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains. Thus, these foods make it easier to maintain weight.

Lower Bad Cholesterol Levels

There is a specific type of vegetarian diet that doesn’t consume animal products at all, this helps in reducing the LDL (low-density lipoproteins) that are known to be bad cholesterols.

Good for the Heart

Because a vegetarian diet has a positive effect on cholesterol and blood pressure, it helps in reducing the chance to have heart disease. This diet replaces proteins with legumes and beans for the protein. Hence, it makes a vegetarian diet very low in saturated fats and cholesterol.

How to start your vegetarian diet?

After knowing and deciding what kind of vegetarian you would be, you can now start your diet. But it is not easy as you are already used to eat what you usually have. Here are some simple ways you can follow if you want to switch to a vegetarian diet.

Schedule your diet

Set a date when you will start. You may plan to consume all your meats first before going grocery shopping for foods that may help you in your new diet.

Slowly get used to it

A sudden change in your diet can affect your digestive system. Start off your vegetarian by gradually replacing meats with more vegetables, fruits, and legumes. You may use your favorite recipes and try them without meat.

Commit to it

As you change your diet, it also means you are changing your lifestyle as you get more used to it. If you aspire to achieve a healthier lifestyle, you should know that this is a long-term move.

Any kind of diet can never be easy, it takes time, process, and adjustment for yourself. It also requires your patience because the result would not be visible in an instant but if you are determined to lose weight, you should just follow your diet and do it properly along with some physical activity that can help you achieve the figure you want.

Just enjoy the process and you will see the finish product of your hardships.

Fats are one of the three macronutrients that are needed for an individual to survive, develop, and reproduce. Therefore, it is essential for every human being as it is used for metabolism.

But not all fats are helpful, there are different kinds of fats that are good and bad. If you want to lose weight and go on a diet, here are some facts about fats for you.

Unhealthy Fats

There are two harmful dietary fats that you need to avoid.

Saturated fat

Saturated fats are animal fats that mainly come from an animal source of food such as red meat, poultry, and full-fat dairy. Consuming saturated fats increases the chance of getting cardiovascular diseases as these fats can drive up cholesterol.

Examples of foods that have saturated fats: fatty beef, poultry with skin, pork, bacon, processed Meat, butter, cheese, lard and cream, and other dairy products made from whole fat milk.

Sure our body needs these foods and is always tempting to eat but health experts say limit the consumption of saturated fats under 10% of calories per day.

Trans fat

Trans fat is known to be the most harmful kind, it is produced from a process called hydrogenation where unsaturated fatty acids are converted into saturated fatty acids.

These are foods that people often go as comfort food and it is surely hard to avoid eating them but if you want to stay healthier and fit you should limit and try to avoid eating these kinds of foods as much as possible.

Healthy Fats

Unsaturated fat

Unsaturated fat is from vegetables; thus, it is also known as good fats because it affects your health positively. Consuming this type of fats reduces LDL and increase HDL. Hence, it lowers the risk of cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

Tip: If you want to add unsaturated fats in your diet, make sure that they will be a replacement for foods that are saturated rather than adding them. Otherwise, it will just make you gain weight and increase your overall lipoprotein levels.

Monounsaturated Fats

From the word mono itself these fats just simply have only one unsaturated carbon molecule. These fats help in reducing bad cholesterol levels. Monounsaturated fat is found in a variety of foods, nuts and oils.

Polyunsaturated Fats

These are fats that have two or more unsaturated carbon molecules. This type of fat can be found mostly in plant-based foods and oils. These fats improve blood cholesterol level which lowers the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Examples of foods that have Polyunsaturated fats are foods rich in Omega-3 and Omega-6 acids. Omega-3 fatty acids include fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, and sardines, walnuts, and canola oil while Omega-6 includes vegetable oils such as safflower, soybean, sunflower, and corn oils.

There are numerous facts about foods we consume that you need to know and be aware of. In order to achieve a healthier lifestyle, you should always make sure that you get proper nutrition from the food you eat and control your consumption of foods that are risky for your health.

Losing weight is always challenging for an individual because eating is one of the best things you can do to relax and enjoy. However, nothing can beat healthy eating as it can prevent and control your health problems and help you lose weight. There are a lot of ways to achieve weight loss and it takes time and effort to do so.

There are a lot of strict diets you need to follow. Replacing meals with shakes may help you reduce calorie intake which can help you reduce weight. It provides the nutrition of a full meal. Here are the best meal replacement shakes proven to be effective.

310 Meal Replacement shakes

These are plant-based shakes that contains pea protein powder that activates the release hormones and your body that can make you full between meals; Brown muscle protein that helps muscle recover from physical activity, this also helps in reducing blood sugar levels balanced, lose fat and lowers cholesterol; and lastly, Hemp protein which is a high-quality vegan protein, that contains all amino acids, plus fiber and healthy fats.

Ideal Shape Ideal Shake

This shake claims that their shake includes a hunger-blocking blend. It primarily has three ingredients which are Slendesta, Protein, and Fiber.

Slendesta is a natural potato protein-based ingredient that has been shown to suppress hunger for up to three hours. Protein is known to be one of the three macronutrients our body needs and it is said that protein is more satisfying than carbohydrates and fats.

Thus, eating protein will make you feel full longer. While Fiber is a carbohydrate that can never be digested by your body, it helps in regulating your body’s use of sugar and helps you keep hunger and blood sugar in check.

Reviews of this product proves that Ideal Shape Ideal Shake is really ideal for their weight loss.

Ample

Ample is definitely one of the most popular meal replacement shakes. “Ample makes things easy with three nutritious meals tailored to your specific needs,” this is what the makers of this product claim. Ample is said to be made from “Superior natural ingredients” which are protein, fats, fiber, organic greens, and probiotics for comprehensive nourishment combined.

They have different formulas that are good for a specific meal. However, the downside of this product is that it is quite pricey compared to other meal replacement shakes but a lot of people still prefer these over others because of its nutrient’s benefits.

People claim that Ample really works for them and would definitely keep drinking them.

There are a lot of other meal replacement shakes that you can have if you are trying to reduce your weight. If you don’t have enough budget to purchase these shakes, you may also opt to make yourself one, more organic and you can fully make your own preference too.

These shakes can surely make you full but keep in mind that you should still watch for your health and make sure to have a proper meal once in a while.